Addiction

Hernando Cortez was the Spanish conqueror of Mexico. His conquest began between 1519 and 1521. He became a soldier and was determined to gane fame and fortune through a military career. Cortez had an army of 400 men, 16 horses, and a few cannons. They landed at Vera Cruz where the Aztec people had constructed the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan.

The first reflections that Cortez and the European people had of the Aztecs where that they were a society that needed reform. Cortez believed that they could convert them to Catholic religion. He believed they could be conquered in a civilized manner. He in return made alliance with the chief Montazuma and began trying to minister to them.

As time went on and the Aztecs did not reform Cortez's opinion seemed to change about the people. In his later writings to the king he portrays the Aztec people as being evil and of the devil. He says they are all sodomites and they practice cannibalism. In the art work provided the Aztecs are perceived as a perverted and demented group of people. The Aztec people sacrificed thousands of humans to their Gods in religious rituals. One ritual involved removing internal organs of young men and women while they were alive. Cortez thought this was barbaric and that the Aztec people needed punishment for their actions.

Cortez began to believe that the Aztec people needed to be dealt with forcefully. This began the war between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. The Aztec people were conquered by Cortez. The Spaniards weapons were much more advanced than the Aztec people's.

The Aztec people felt betrayed by the Spaniards. As you can see in there art work the Aztec people lavished them with gifts of gold, feather cloaks, and other trinkets only to be slain. They also brought disease into there civilization which killed many of there people. The Spaniards won their trust only to conquer them in battle.

The opinion that Cortez left of the Aztec people was that they were an evil and malicious society that engaged in acts of violence and perversion. You can see in the art work that this opinion stood with the European people. They felt that they had done the right thing in conquering the Aztec nation.